Mazda Miata

I've been threatening to get back on the track for years. After a few false starts, I finally determined that the only way it was going to happen was if I bought a dedicated track car. My criteria was pretty simple: it had to be rear wheel drive, handle well out of the box with a big aftermarket to improve things, inexpensive to run and buy, and had to be fun to drive. As with all things in life, the answer was Miata (if you frequent GRM, that will make sense. If not, well…you need to). My search was centered on the Western US, and my preference was to find a car with most of the mods already done. After all, it’s better to let someone else take the depreciation hit provided the parts are what you want. Much to my surprise, I found the perfect car nearly in my backyard. It’s a ’91 with factory hardtop that had the following mods done over the previous year: Flyin Miata 2.5 suspension, Flyin Miata frame rail reinforcements, Hard Dog Hardcore M1 roll bar, Good-Win Racing exhaust, Sparco Sprint V seats, Sparco steering wheel, Schroth Rally Cross 4-points, 15x7 Team Dynamic wheels, and a few other odds and ends, including water pump and timing belt replacement. As expected, the car is slow. Humorously slow. In fact it’s kind of hard to believe that when it was new it was actually considered a reasonably quick car. Now, well, let’s just say I have no plans to race a Prius for pink slips. However, acceleration is not why I bought it. In fact one of the draws of the Miata was its lack of forward momentum. I’m a big believer that it’s better to learn how to drive in a slow car that doesn’t offer the luxury of making up for mid corner mistakes with the simple flex of your right ankle. A momentum car like the Miata teaches you how to conserve speed in a corner, and I think, makes you a better driver. Given the Miata’s native acceleration, it should make me a great driver ;) Okay, enough bashing on the lack of power. The handling and braking are both fantastic and it’s already proven to be a great little track car. More to come…